Pellet Fan

All Things Considered => General Discussion--Non food Related => Topic started by: Bentley on October 10, 2020, 05:18:08 PM

Title: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: Bentley on October 10, 2020, 05:18:08 PM
Just curious how close in taste they are to a domestic one?  These seem like they would be the size of a chicken once dressed out?


Invasion (https://youtu.be/9fNXEOpTAMc)
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: Bar-B-Lew on October 10, 2020, 06:27:21 PM
I have had them a few times for Thanksgiving in MS and didn't like them.  Certainly didn't taste like the turkey you buy in the store to me.
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: bregent on October 10, 2020, 06:28:44 PM
We've been overrun by wild turkeys for many years now - in fact there are 4 walking around on my roof right now.  I've heard from a few folks that they taste terrible and are stringy. My guess is that if they tasted good, there wouldn't be so many of them around.  It could be due to their diet - I think they live mostly on grubs around here.
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: okie smokie on October 10, 2020, 09:06:52 PM
We've been overrun by wild turkeys for many years now - in fact there are 4 walking around on my roof right now.  I've heard from a few folks that they taste terrible and are stringy. My guess is that if they tasted good, there wouldn't be so many of them around.  It could be due to their diet - I think they live mostly on grubs around here.
That would make a cool pic if you can get it without spooking them.  Where do you live?
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: urnmor on October 10, 2020, 10:29:54 PM
It has been a long long time since i have eaten one, however, if one was given to me i would cook it again.  yes they do not taste like store bought turkeys as they are lean.
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: pmillen on October 11, 2020, 06:43:27 PM
Those things are vermin!  You should kill every one you see.  IDK if you run over them with your car.

They just dinosaurs walking around eating everything they see.  They have decimated the quail and pheasant populations by destroying the nests and eating the eggs and chicks.

The Nebraska Game and Fish Department planted them saying that they don't care about the pheasant population because "The pheasant isn't native to Nebraska.  The turkey is."  Now, motels and restaurants miss the hunter-generated revenue because the pheasant population isn't worth hunting.

They jump into rancher's beef cattle feeding bunks and poop in them.  The beef eat it and get some disease.  One of my rancher friends regularly shoots them at night while they're roosting.  He takes them to the dump in 55 gallon garbage cans.  He doesn't seem to be reducing the population or the cattle illness rate.

They cook up nothing like commercial turkeys.
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: Mikro on October 11, 2020, 07:35:57 PM
I used to hunt them every fall and spring. My wife and I prefer wild turkey over anything store bought. The legs are useless as they are stringy. The breast when cooked correctly is like eating a very large quail or a good pheasant, well at least the Rio Grande type of turkeys here in Texas are. Most people will overcook one and then they are tough as boot leather and have no flavor. :)

Just my  :2cents:
MK
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: BigDave83 on October 11, 2020, 09:42:44 PM
I used to hunt them to when i was younger. I remember them being good, easily over cooked and turned into trash though. The legs I agree were worthless. They were a lot harder to find 40 years ago when i hunted them, pretty plentiful today. Nothing to go past a few fields around where I live and see flocks of 20 plus. I am not sure why i never tried to make jerky out of them, a friend of my Father's would drop off geese I would make jerky from them after my Mother tried to cook one and said never again. She didn't mind store bought geese though.
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: ICIdaho on October 11, 2020, 10:03:16 PM
All wild meat is gamy compared to pellet fed farm raised. It is what you get use to I guess. It is not as bad as wild duck (liver on wings) :puke: 
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: BigDave83 on October 12, 2020, 07:52:46 AM
All wild meat is gamy compared to pellet fed farm raised. It is what you get use to I guess. It is not as bad as wild duck (liver on wings) :puke:

Is wild Duck that bad? I do not believe I have ever had wild duck. But I do like liver n onions so I could be in for a treat.
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: lil moose on October 12, 2020, 08:23:52 AM
I found if you brine them for 24 hrs THEN add bourbon for another 8 to 10 hrs it takes most if not all the gamy flavor out

I buy the cheapest bourbon I can find when I do this.   I buy a 750 ml bottle and use just a bit over half then I make a bourbon BBQ sauce out of the rest  :D
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: pmillen on October 12, 2020, 09:04:05 AM
It is not as bad as wild duck (liver on wings) :puke:

Prairie Chicken tastes like liver, too.
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: ylr on October 12, 2020, 09:27:02 AM
I found if you brine them for 24 hrs THEN add bourbon for another 8 to 10 hrs it takes most if not all the gamy flavor out

I buy the cheapest bourbon I can find when I do this.   I buy a 750 ml bottle and use just a bit over half then I make a bourbon BBQ sauce out of the rest  :D

I thought Wild Turkey was bourbon....  :rotf:
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: okie smokie on October 12, 2020, 11:17:58 AM
I found if you brine them for 24 hrs THEN add bourbon for another 8 to 10 hrs it takes most if not all the gamy flavor out

I buy the cheapest bourbon I can find when I do this.   I buy a 750 ml bottle and use just a bit over half then I make a bourbon BBQ sauce out of the rest  :D

I thought Wild Turkey was bourbon....  :rotf:
Sounds like the old recipe for wild duck with oyster stuffing. (who will be the first to ask about it?)
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: yorkdude on October 12, 2020, 11:44:59 AM
We have had them several times, a few we tried that we cooked but zero success. We have also mostly  had them cooked by Many other people and same consensus from us, awful. Not anything like a farm raised turkey. When I hunted when I would clean and dress something I could tell instantly what it would probably taste like and at least the Kansas turkeys stink, don’t know about other regions turkey.
Gotta agree with PMillen, horribly invasive.
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: Mikro on October 12, 2020, 12:46:25 PM
All wild meat is gamy compared to pellet fed farm raised. It is what you get use to I guess. It is not as bad as wild duck (liver on wings) :puke:
Saying all wild meat is gamey is a misnomer. Even beef can be gamey if not properly handled once slaughtered.

What matters is how it is handled and processed once it is harvested. Many people wait to clean animals and that process can add to the " Gamey Flavor " Heat is an enemy of preparation.

Wild duck also can be very good depending on the type of duck. Wood duck, most teal and a few other grain and nut feeders are great tasting, whereas, Pintails, Mallards and some others are not. Also the diet of those can greatly effect the taste. Ducks harvested in colder climates usually have a diet that consist of more grains, where as once they fly south the diet may change as they will tend to feed off the bottom vegatation in ponds as well, and if on the coast may even eat fish.

MK
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: pmillen on October 12, 2020, 10:12:21 PM
I used to hunt them every fall and spring. My wife and I prefer wild turkey over anything store bought. The legs are useless as they are stringy. The breast when cooked correctly is like eating a very large quail or a good pheasant, well at least the Rio Grande type of turkeys here in Texas are. Most people will overcook one and then they are tough as boot leather and have no flavor. :)

I've been thinking about this.  The Game warden in one area I'm familiar with turns a blind eye to infractions involving the huge turkey flocks.  I may drive out there and pop a few with a .223 or .17 HMR and harvest the breasts.  If nothing else, I'll try jerky.
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: okie smokie on October 14, 2020, 09:11:46 PM
More foxes and coyotes would probably solve the problem.?
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: BigDave83 on October 15, 2020, 08:54:23 AM
More foxes and coyotes would probably solve the problem.?

That isn't such a great thing either. Growing up and hunting, I never  heard about coyotes and it was a rare occurrence to see a fox, I had seen a few reds around some of the pastures where I hunted.

40 years later, coyotes are every where, have even seen a couple been hit and laying along the road. I do not believe there is a season for them, as people seem to hunt them all the time. Red fox, I see more of them today than I ever have. Turkey population seems to be thriving, rabbits, pheasants and deer numbers seem to be down when listening to hunters at the clubs.

Hunting is not as popular today here as it was, even in the rural area I grew up and still live in. Schools still close for a day or so at deer season, but the number of hunters seem to be down. I can remember getting caught up in deer drives and coming out with them to find 10 vehicles and 30 to 50 people, and that wasn't counting the ones that were left at the start.

I wish I was still physically able to wonder through the woods with a gun, right around this time was my favorite time, taking the 22 rifle or revolver out and harvesting a few squirrels for dinner the next night. Very few people in the woods for small game season.
Title: Re: Any of you all every eaten or cooked one?
Post by: urnmor on October 18, 2020, 07:36:30 PM
I tried posting before however lost it before I could post. Anyway at least IMO wild Turkey has in many areas become an invasive species.  I don’t mean they have not been around before but now they are invading housing areas etc. I believe this is a man made problem as we have either taken away their forest which forces them to forage for food in housing areas, killed off their predators.  The same can be said for deer, which resulted in their population explosion.   I understand the need to protect our property however when you kill the cats, the foxes etc you a void.  That void is being filled by other animals increasing in numbers and or migrating to populated areas.  Oh and one more point we are not allowed to trap or kill them in many areas. Just my opinion